It looks like Mr. Chauncey Huffcat has developed some swim bladder issues! I was scared to death to see him today at the top of the tank kind of lying on his side, and immediately thought the worst. But when I came over he started swimming around doing his little food dance. But I noticed that he is having difficulty swimming to the bottom of the tank and seems to pop right back up to the top.

Everything else looks normal, fins and stuff are fine, he blew a bubble nest this morning, has been eating and pooping fine, water params are good. The water is chillier than normal, his tank is usually at 75-80- degrees but is down to 72 due to a cold snap, I have a mini Hydor heater in there, but it only raises the temp a few degrees above the room temp, it doesn't have a thermostat.

Is it common for a betta to have swim bladder issues?

I am planning to do a water change tomorrow anyway. I also thought I would fast him for 36 hours or so and then feed some peas and see if that helps. Any thoughts or ideas?

Other info:

He is in a 2 gallon tank (I know it is small :-( ) with a few large river rocks and a silk plant. He eats Hikari Betta bio-gold, soaked, and eats 2-3 pellets a day, with one day a week being fasted, then fed peas the following day. His tank is not cycled so I change 100% of the water every third or fourth day, using aged water conditioned with Prime. There is a small heater in there that warms the water a few degrees above room temp. I have had him for 8 months.

They seem to be easily infected in some bettas. A 3 day course of Pimafix can fix them up pretty quickly but the same fish seem to come down with floaty issues again and again.

I would try fasting him for 3 days and then give him a pea just like a goldie would eat for swim bladder. I heard that it helps bettas as well.

Thanks guys, I will see how that works. He looks less floaty today and I have never seen this problem with him before, but who knows. I have a comet with intermittent sbd so I am used to it now, although I feel bad for my comet's tankmates since they have to fast along with her!

Hi Jen! It's hard to believe that you've had Chauncey for 8 months allready.Man does time sure move fast.
I'm not sure why the little guy's showing this disorder though ,as it sounds like he's not over eating,and you're also soaking the pellets before hand. I would say to look into high Nitrates,but because you do 100% water changes, that kind of rules that idea out too.
One thing I do want to mention is those big temp changes,for that is definately one thing that can bring on problems.That's quite a drastic temp change. They can live with temps of 72,although they may not like it,but that up and down temp thing is not good.

How's Mr. Chauncey doing today?

Hi Devs! I miss you and everyone here, I have been working too much to stay awake while on the internet...

Chauncey is doing fine today, no longer looks floaty at all. It definitely could've been temperature related, he tank is usually around 80 degrees but we had a MAJOR cold snap come in here in Seattle, and his heater is the kind that just gets the water a few degrees higher than the room. The snap is over and his tank is back to 79. I want to get him a larger tank, and with it a heater that has an actual thermostat that I can control. I haven't had a betta during the winter, so I may need to do that so he stays nice and toasty. He is a spoiled little bugger already, he was probably faking the swim bladder thing anyway, just for attention!

All my other fishies are doing well, although Pony, my comet, is still having intermittent sbd issues. I can't believe I have been on this site a year now!

Thanks for the advice, and hopefully it was a one time thing. I hope I have some time to come on here and chat again soon. :-)